Entries in Kapitall
(5)

Where will all the cash hoards on U.S. corporate balance sheets turn up? Too often companies with large cash holdings blow it on wasteful acquisitions rather than return it to shareholders. However, there is so much cash on U.S. corporate balance sheets that it will end up in investors pockets somehow. Companies will either give it directly to thier own shareholders via dividends and buybacks or they will spread it around the market as a whole (donating it to other shareholders) through acquisitions.

It's appropriate that nasdaq.com found my comments on the matter at Kapitall. After all, the companies with the famously largest cash positions (Microsoft, Apple, Cisco) are also the largest companies listed on the NASDAQ Exchange.

Disclosure: I own Apple and Microsoft. I am short in-the-money puts on Cisco.

Part of my job at Kapitall is to answer user questions about the financial markets and investing. The users send me mail inside Kapitall's social network system. I coined the term "k-mail" and it caught on).. I pick the most interesting ones and share my answers with the community. Here are links to the most recent batch of questions. Questions range from when to buy gold and stocks to my favorite topic: how little investors taking advantage of hedge funds.

Today, I set up a trading account at TDAmeritrade for the Kapitall interns. I allocated each $1000 to trade in my account. While I have veto power for anything stupid they might do, they have full discretion. After spending time with practice portfolios, knowing the money is real creates a whole new level of stress. It makes me want to come into the office each day just to watch.

I wrote an article about Goldman Sachs program trading that I hope doesn't create too much controversy for Kapitall.com. I debated putting it on my own website instead but thought my explanation was pretty balanced.

In the disclosure section I talk about what I've done since leaving Morgan Stanley as well.